Attor's Golden Tears
by Bananas102
Summary: It's been weeks since Gray's break out of the camp, but he can't help but remember the one he left back there, and fights to l that is left is ruin, and an old friend who explains exactly what happened and why. Gray, followed by Natsu, go in search of the survivors, neither remembering that Gray only has a day before his Attor disk runs out. Attor!Universe. (MUST READ 1&2!
1. Chapter 1

"You're not going," Lyon said simply.

Gray growled, "Like hell! I can go if I want!" He balled his hands into fists. Whatever lack of anger he'd expressed in the camp had come back full force over the last couple of weeks.

Lucy sweat dropped. "Uh, how about we all calm down," she suggested nervously as Natsu cracked his knuckles.

He grinned like mad man, ready for a fight. Erza shook her head at him and Natus pouted before sitting down again.

"Why are you intent on going back there?" Lyon questioned. Gray gritted his teeth.

"I need to. There's no danger, and I'm completely healed and I've taken my disk today, so there is no reason I can't go," he persisted.

Lyon pursed his lips, making them into a thin white line. "Why? Give me a good reason. Your magic isn't fully back yet, so I'm fully capable of stopping you."

Gray hissed, "I left someone there! Okay?" The entire hall went silent and Gray huffed angrily.

Lucy blinked. "You left someone? In the camp?" she asked gently. Gray inhaled deeply.

"Yes," he said stiffly. "He's a good friend." He looked over at Lyon. "I don't care what anyone says. I'm leaving, and that's that."

Without a word, he strode out of the hall, door slamming shut with a loud bang behind him.

Natsu got up to leave as well, though his exit was a handmade hole in the wall.

* * *

><p>Gray sighed as the winds whipped through his hair.<p>

He was pretty sure people would be slightly alarmed by a wizard standing and zooming by on a slide of ice, but it was the only method of travel that would get him there in back in just over a day.

Hopefully the effects of his Attor disk would last until then.

The day passed by at an agonizingly slow pace.

Trees and houses whizzed by, and eventually Gray could feel his magic levels begin to drop. His ice wasn't forming as well either.

Instead of it being smooth and well-balanced, it was sagging in some places and it was too high in others.

Damn, he thought angrily, If this keeps up, I'm going to have to walk or run the rest of the way.

Sure enough, his ice failed several hours later.

"Crap," he swore as his ice melted under his feet. When it gave out beneath him, he grabbed a tree branch and climbed down the trunk.

He dusted himself off when he reached the bottom.

Suddenly, in the distance, he heard a loud swear, followed by the sighting of a large pillar of fire.

Gray snorted, but proceeded to wait for the idiot, arms folded across his chest and leaning against a tree.

Several minutes later Natsu came stumbling through the underbrush, Happy right on his tail.

"What're you hanging around for?" Natsu asked.

Gray shook his head. "I was waiting for you to hurry up and get here, you moron."

Natsu grabbed his shirt, eyes ablaze.

"You want a piece of this? Huh?" Gray gritted his teeth.

"I'll you anytime, you fire breathing idiot!"

To the benefit of the country, both managed to calm themselves before any violence happened.

"So," Natsu began, brushing off his clothes. "Where is this thing anyway?"

Gray began walking to the East, Natsu following next to him. "It's right between the forest and the desert."

As time passed and they ventured closer to the desert, temperatures rose, battled by the coolness of the night.

The two mages kept walking, content with silence.

* * *

><p>Natus squinted to see the big grey blob in the distance.<p>

"Is that it?"

Gray shielded his eyes and squinted too, taking a few steps forward for good measure.

"I think so," he said slowly.

Gray created the slide again and began to move, streaming towards the building.

Natsu was behind him, on his knees and turning green.

Gray raised an eyebrow, figuring that he should've known a slide was too much for the guy.

"You need to get off?" he asked.

Natsu clapped his hands over his mouth to keep from puking while Happy patted him on the back, nodding at Gray.

"I can fly him the rest of the way," the cat told him.

Gray nodded and created another slide that scooped Natsu up and deposited him in the sand below.

The ice mage thought about it and decided that if there was a crisis, Natsu, of all people, could probably catch up to him.

* * *

><p>Natsu gagged before gulping in air. "You okay?" Happy asked slowly.<p>

The fire mage flashed him a thumbs up.

"I'm okay," he groaned.

Happy nodded and opened his wings before taking ahold of his friend.

Gray's slide was still there, though it was starting to melt, so Happy quickly began to follow it.

* * *

><p>Gray landed at the ruins with a thud. Everything was so quiet.<p>

Eerily quiet.

A shiver ran down Gray's spine and he scowled angrily at the place he'd hoped to God he'd never have to see again.

The ice mage walked through the half-beaten doors in the castle like building the dark guild had used, and turned towards the hall that held the prison block.

As he looked around, there were signs of fighting everywhere.

There were dead guards here and there, and Gray covered his nose because of the smell.

Items were knocked over and the walls were decorated with dry smears of blood.

On occasion, a silver bracelet caught his eye.

Most were melted off, just like Gray and the other's, but a few were still tightly bound around severed wrists.

Nausea bubbled in the pit Gray's stomach and he took a calming breath before pushing open the dented door.

The familiar smell of cold and damp reached his nose, and he bristled with anger.

Bodies lay everywhere. Gray carefully maneuvered his way through, making sure he didn't step on anyone.

As he passed, he inspected the faces of the deceased, and he was relieved to discover none of them were Matty.

When he reached Matty's cell, there was no body or anything.

"Lookin' for survivors?" a voice rasped.

Gray spun around to see Ben, and elderly man with white hair that had been at the camp for as long as Gray could remember.

Ben's eyes widened and he stared at Gray in disbelief. "Gray?"

Gray smiled. "Hey, Ben."

Ben blinked a few times, his mind struggling to swallow the new information.

"Everyone thought you died. That's why we started the riot."

Gray's eyebrows shot up. "What?" another voice asked. Gray glanced over at Natu's who was crossing his arms.

"You guys revolted because you thought he kicked the bucket?"

Ben nodded, shifting his arms. "Yes," he said.

Gray swallowed thickly. "Why?"

Ben smiled grimly. "My boy, do you have any idea of what you did to help us? If I remember correctly, you tried to escape sixty-seven times."

Natsu blanched. "Sixty-eight," Gray whispered.

"Ah, yes. Anyway; that gave up a ray of hope we never had before. Even when they beat you, you never backed down. To be quite frank, it was one of the most amazing things I'd ever seen. Not one of us thanked you for that."

"What I did hurt others," Gray argued. "That's why they killed Toby!"

Natsu blinked once, watching Gray curiously. Is that who he lost? Was Toby the person they used against him?

"That's why I stopped trying to leave."

Ben's eyebrows drew together. "What you did was the only thing keeping everyone going in this place! We all prayed for the day when you would escape. Toby too."

Gray clenched his jaw. "Toby would _beg _for me to stop. To give up. _I didn't listen_. And they killed him. Don't you people understand? _I'm _responsible for what happened."

The old man sighed. "You are a fool, boy." Both mages drew back in surprise. "Toby loved you dearly, like a son. That's why he wanted you to stop; so you wouldn't get hurt. But he always wanted you to get out, and that never changed. Not even when he died."

Ben narrowed his eyes at Gray.

"Didn't he tell you? The reason he wanted you to succeed in escaping and getting that damn bracelet off?"

Natsu turned to look at Gray again, observing how Gray's brow creased in thought and confusion.

Gray brought his hands up to cover his eyes, grimacing as though he were in pain.

"I don't remember," he said finally, voice muffled.

Ben smiled.

"Well, he always told me that he couldn't wait to see your magic."


	2. Chapter 2

Gray looked he just got slapped in the face. He looked down at the floor, cowering like a wounded animal.

Natsu stepped forward. "We came here looking for someone in particular," he told the old man.

Ben nodded, smiling softly. "Matty." Gray head jerked up.

"Did he survive?"

Ben nodded.

Gray stumbled forward and crouched in front of the smaller man. "You have to tell me where. Please," he begged.

Ben looked out towards the door to the field. "When everything went to hell, I saw that boy take off into the field. He ran far into the desert, towards that small town in the far forest."

Gray smiled and rested a hand on Ben's shoulder. "Thank you." He rose to his feet and left, walking out into the field.

Natsu jogged after him to catch up. "Shouldn't we have helped him or something?" Gray chuckled.

"You don't do anything for Ben unless he asks you too. It's a weird rule, but you follow it." Natsu frowned at him, but stayed silent.

Gray entered the field, face clouded over with unpleasant memories. He took a breath and walked out through the Attor plants, some of which were beginning to die.

The ice mage suddenly started running, faster and faster until he was whizzing through the plants. He couldn't stop running.

_Why does this hurt so much? Why do I want to cry so badly? I thought I'd be okay..._

Gray suddenly tripped, and he fell, sprawling into the dirt. He got up onto all four, gasping in breaths.

_All my pain...it's like every horrible memory of this place is converging on me at the same time...I can't breathe._

He sat back on his heels, looking up at the sky he'd gazed at for so long.

Like caged bird, wishing for freedom. But now he was free. So why did he still feel trapped here?

_I need..._

Who did he need?

Matty.

He needed Matty. He needed to find Matty. Gray exhaled.

Natsu came running up behind him. "What the hell's wrong with you?" he panted. Gray rose to his feet rather shakily.

"I need to get out of this place," he mumbled.

* * *

><p>Kantera was a small village, usually pretty deserted.<p>

Now it was overflowing with people, all from the labor camp. Gray and Natsu stood at the entrance, gawking at the sheer number of refugees scattered around the village.

Some were out on porches, a few under trees, and there were a couple helping the locals treat the wounds of the others.

Gray felt a tug in his chest. He blinked as he realized something he's never realized before.

These people were his family. He'd suffered with them, worked with them, laughed with them. It wasn't just Fairy Tail anymore.

His feet moved without his permission, carrying him through the masses of people. Some gasped when they saw him.

A few cried.

Other laughed and a couple just smiled in knowing. Gray grinned in return. Natsu trailed after him, wondering what Gray was exactly to these people.

_He's their hero. Their savior. They're...they're family,_ he realized.

A woman dashed forward, throwing her arms around Gray. He laughed. She giggled before pulling away.

"I knew you were alive," she whispered, brushing away a few stray tears with her fingers.

Gray smiled at her gently.

"Have you seen Matty?" She beamed, and pointed towards a small barn. It's doors were open and the sound of a horse braying drifted from it's confines.

Gray inhaled deeply. He walked forward.

Natsu made to follow, but the woman stopped him. "Let them be," she told him. "They'll need their time."

The whole thing was impossibly magical. Dozens of refugees watched Gray walk into the barn.

* * *

><p>Matty glanced back to see who walked in.<p>

His heart leapt into his throat and he felt his eyes stretch wide.

"Gray?" he whispered.

Gray looked stunned, like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Matty."

Matty was running, and he tackled Gray in a hug.

"Oh my God, I can't believe you're alive. I thought-everyone said you were dead," he rambled. "I _saw_ you. T-They took you out of the cell-"

Gray hugged him back and Matty's eyes nearly bugged out of is head.

"I thought you were dead too," he said quietly, voice muffled.


	3. Chapter 3

Lyon squinted at Matty. "So this is the guy you were pining after. He's...kind of...scraggly."

Matty looked insulted.

Gray shoved him lightly. "Lay off, Lyon."

The ice mage rolled his eyes. "I at least have the right to see who you were willing to risk your _life _for," he retorted.

Gray threw his hands up in the air. "Are you still whining about that? We came back, and I was _fine_," he stressed, scowling in irritation.

Matty raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked slowly.

Natsu threw his arm around Matty's shoulders. "Well, every day Gray has to take a magical disk thing or he gets really sick and then he dies."

Matty spun on Gray, tossing Natus's arm off of him in the process. "What?!" he exclaimed. Gray sent Natsu a glare.

"It's not that big of a deal," he grumbled. Matty frowned.

Gray sighed. "I'm going for a walk." As he headed for the door, Natsu called his name. Gray turned just in time to catch the small golden disk heading his way.

He gritted his teeth, pushing open the door and striding outside.

Matty pursed his lips.

"Don't worry about him. He'll take the disk and wander back when he calms down," a female voice told him.

Matty glanced to the side to see a blonde girl with brown eyes smiling at him.

Lucy, he remembered vaguely. Her name is Lucy.

"I've never seen him get angered so easily. It's...worrying," he admitted.

Lucy waved it off. "Gray's usually like that, along with most of the men in our guild. In my opinion, I think it's a good thing. He's letting out all his frustration from the camp bit by bit."

Matty hummed. "Never really thought of it that way." He looked Lucy up and down very briefly. "You're were with us in the camp for a little while, right? What happened? Why does Gray have to take those disks?"

She sighed. "Let's talk over here." She led him to an empty table in the far corner of the guild hall. When they both sat down, she began to speak.

"Alright. When we escaped, Gray was dying." Matty's eyes widened. "That's why we make a break for it so soon. Gray was against the idea but when push came to shove, he agreed. We came home, but then we discovered it was too late for Gray to be healed. There was nothing we could do."

Matty blinked. "B-But he's alive!" Lucy nodded.

"We returned to the camp, and one of the members of the dark guild told us what they made with the plants you all grew. They were making Attor disks. Small, golden disks that would heal any injury and give the user immortality, but only if they kept taking them. That's how Gray is alive right now. Every day he has to take one, or he relapses to how he used to be."

Matty swallowed. "O-Okay. What...what did you mean by immortality?"

Lucy exhaled slowly. "While the Attor disks give him advanced healing powers, Gray can still be killed, but only but unnatural causes, like magic. Other than that, as long as Gray keeps taking them...he'll never die."

Matty's eyebrows shot up. "Never?"

"Nope."

Matty bit his lips. "If he did stop taking them, say, in a hundred years or something, how would he die?"

The blonde pursed her lips. "When he came home, he was coughing up blood."

"Oh."

* * *

><p>Matty really wanted to go after Gray, but he figured Lucy was right.<p>

Lyon left a little while later, saying something about visiting someone. The ice wizard knew full well where Gray was.

He was on the roof, thinking about something depressing.

Sure enough, when he climbed up there he found Gray sprawled lazily on the shingles, staring up at the sky.

Nearly a week after Gray came back, he'd started going on 'walks'. No one knew where he when and no one knew when he would be back.

One day, however, Lyon has spotted a blue head of hair on the roof and climbed up, only to discover Gray's little hiding place.

Lyon had sworn he wouldn't tell anybody about it, and in return, he could usually sit up there with him without complaint.

Once Lyon had asked Gray what he was thinking about, in no way expecting the answer he received. "Death," Gray had said quietly.

It was rather sobering, if Lyon was being honest with himself.

"What do you want?" Gray sniffed.

Lyon rolled his eyes. "Just sitting here."

He sat down, staying there for a minute before giving in and laying back to look up the the cloud, which were beginning to recede with the setting sun.

They stayed like that for awhile, content with each other's silence.

"If I asked you a question, would you answer it honestly?"

Lyon blinked once, turning his head to see Gray looking up at him.

"Only if I can ask you one," he replied.

Gray nodded, looking back at the sky.

Again they fell into silence, but only for about a minute.

"When..."

Lyon glanced down briefly.

"When I was gone...did you miss me?"

The question was certainly not one Lyon would expect, especially from Gray. To him.

He didn't really need to ponder the question at all. Yes was the first word to form on his lips, but he hesitated.

It's not that he hadn't missed Gray, in fact it was quite the opposite.

Lyon had thought Gray was dead, and that hurt more anything he'd ever really experienced before.

While the loss of their teacher was hard, Gray was like a little brother to him.

So when he was lead to believe Gray was gone...it wasn't a good time.

_Huh...didn't really know I cared about the little pest that much, _he thought to himself.

"Yes."


	4. Chapter 4

"You ready?" Erza asked. Matty shook his head and his hold on ray grew tighter. Gray glanced over at him briefly.

He gave Matty an encouraging smile. "We'll be okay. Besides," he added, leaning in closer. "The girls think it's part of some healing process thing and they won't let us leave until we do this."

Matty made a face.

They walked inside, Natsu and Lyon sitting in wait outside the front door.

The two passed through the rubble, trying not to smell the bodies that were still lying where they were before.

Gray weaved through chucks of broken wall and floor, for some reason going through the barracks and out into the field.

Both of them stopped, eyes stretched wide.

The Attor were dead. All of them.

Rotting away and shriveled up until they were nothing but brown, they were slumped over on the ground. It gave Gray a feeling of satisfaction.

But he could feel it creeping up on him. That feeling of being swallowed back into the dark depths of his memories. Suddenly, he wanted to break down and cry.

He wanted to go back to the cell he shared with Toby and cry there.

He wanted to go to the spot where Toby died.

He just wanted to cry.

Matty exhaled shakily, eyes slipping closed. "I want to cry," he whispered. Gray looked over at him in slight surprise.

"Me too," he admitted softly.

Suddenly, Matty began to shake, and his eyes grew watery.

Gray was then blinking away the bleariness in his own eyes and trying to swallow past the lump in his throat.

When Matty started crying, most people would be shocked for someone to be crying that hard.

But anyone who knew hardship would understand; would hear that his sobs were filled with an anguish that encompassed the pain of all those years.

Gray heard it, and it resonated with the very sorrow that dwelled within his soul, and within seconds, he was on his knees, weeping uncontrollably.

He cried for the pain.

He cried for his friends.

He cried for Toby.

He cried for himself.

He cried...for everything.

The two former slave workers cried their grief into the very soil where their grief began.

* * *

><p>When the sound of crying reached the ears of the two boys outside, they paused.<p>

It echoed softly, whispers tales of heartbreak and agony to the walls that inflicted it.

Lyon smiled, if a bit grimly, taking comfort in the fact that Gray was finally expressing his pain. _I had wondered...if Gray would cry._

Natsu, on the other hand, did not take much solace in such a sound.

The girls who came along, Juvia, Lucy, and Erza, all listened intently.

When they heard the two weeping, Juvia immediately burst into tears. "I can't stand to hear him like that!" she wailed.

Lyon quickly took the opportunity to have her cry into his chest.

Which, mind you, only happened because she was too distraught to actually see who it was that was comforting her.

Lucy gave everyone a watery smile.

Erza just smiled gently, no tears in sight.

She like Leon, was happy that pain was being expressed, instead of bottled up and locked away.

It kind of meant that Gray was healing.

* * *

><p>"Gray," Matty whispered.<p>

Gray took in a shuddering breath.

"Your...your tears..."

Gray wiped at his face, but the tears just wouldn't stop.

Suddenly, gentle fingers wiped some away. Gray blinked, staring at them in both curiousity and slight concern.

On Matty's fingers, were his tears.

But unlike regular tears, which were clear and shiny, these were a beautiful glittering gold.

_Are those...my tears?_

Matty smiled at Gray.

They were very beautiful, a shimmering gold as they ran down Gray's cheeks.

It was a bit strange, but it was almost like the tears belonged to the magic of the Atorr, and it was them who was crying for had taken place there.

Matty kind of like the sound of that because, in the depths of his being, there was a sliver of him that wondered if it could be true.

The magic, that had once flowed so intricately in the plants they had cared for, in sweat and blood, weeped for them in return.

He could almost take comfort in that.

In them.

In Attor's golden tears.

* * *

><p><strong>All done! Sorry if you wanted more. However, I plan on making a bunch of little one-shots starring Gray and Matty, and how much this ordeal affected their lives.<strong>

**I might also write a few more little adventures, since I kind of want Gray and Lyon to get a bit more brotherly bonding hurt-comfort done.**

**And...*sigh* I'm a sucker for Gray whump.**

**I know, I know, it's awful. But I will continue to write it! **

**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**

_**MAKE SURE YOU LOOK THROUGH MY STORIES FOR MORE ATTOR!UNIVERSE STORIES AND ONE-SHOTS IF YOU LIKED THESE :D**_


	5. Chapter 5

If you liked it...

This a complete list of the entire Attor series:

1. Attor

2. Escence of Attor (Ya..it's spelled wrong *sigh* I know.)

3. Attor's Golden Tears

4. Attor's Reflection

(NOTE: THIS MAY BE TAKEN DOWN FOR EDITING)


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